AL East Notes: Overbay, Hafner, Yankees

The Yankees and Red Sox have had decidedly different offseasons, but their winter plans converged yesterday when both teams added left-handed bats on relatively low-risk deals. The Yankees agreed to signTravis Hafner and the Red Sox reached a deal with Lyle Overbay. Here’s the latest from the AL East…

Hafner chose the Yankees over the Rays, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (Twitter link). The Rays already have a left-handed hitting designated hitter of their own in Luke Scott.

Before the Overbay deal was completed, the Red Sox had a National League team offer to get them Chris Coghlan from the Marlins in a three-way trade, Peter Gammons of MLB Network reports (on Twitter). As Gammons notes, the 27-year-old Coghlan has seen his production diminish annually since winning the 2009 Rookie of the Year award.

The Yankees appear to be the third best team in the AL East at this point, Richard Justice of MLB.com writes. However, the division seems so tight that almost any outcome is imaginable, so Justice explains how the Yankees can win again in 2013.